The present invention relates to a lock device for locking and unlocking a locking subject related to a power port.
Vehicles that emit less carbon dioxide, such as plugin hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles, are environment-friendly and have become popular. Such a vehicle is powered by a battery. When the battery drains after driving the vehicle over a long distance, the battery is recharged. Thus, the body of the vehicle is provided with a power port that is used to charge the battery. A charge cable of a charging facility is connected to the power port to supply power from the charging facility and charge the battery. The battery charging takes a long time. Thus, a charge cable lock device may be used to lock the charge cable to the vehicle body and prevent theft of the charge cable. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-081917 describes an example of such a charge cable lock device.
A motor-driven lock device is one type of such a lock device. For example, the motor-driven lock device includes an actuator that moves a transmission member, such as a lock stopper, in a lock direction or unlock direction so that a lock pin is selectively engaged with and disengaged from a charge cable. However, if the actuator fails to function when the lock pin is in a lock state, the motor-driven lock device cannot move the lock stopper in the unlock direction to unlock the charge cable.